Japanese Character Writing For Dummies

✍ Scribed by Hiroko Chiba, Vincent Grépinet

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
• Year: 2020
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 99
• Series: For Dummies
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Learn to write 100 Japanese characters

If you want to join the ranks of more than 128 million speakers of Japanese worldwide, this book should be your first stop! Whether studying for school, business, or travel, learning to write the Japanese Kanji characters is essential to gain a working knowledge of this language.

Japanese is considered to be the most complicated writing system in the world, with tens of thousands of characters. But with Japanese Character Writing For Dummies, you’ll find easy step-by-step instructions for writing the first 100 Japanese Kanji characters with ease.

• Includes online bonus content featuring videos, downloadable flashcards, and printable writing pages
• Offers easy-to-follow instruction for writing 100 Japanese characters
• Helps you take your understanding of the language to a new level
• Shows you how to use the written word to communicate with native speakers

Learning to write Japanese Kanji characters is fun ― and now it’s fast and easy too!

✦ Table of Contents

Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
Where to Go from Here
Chapter 1 Wrapping Your Head around Japanese Writing and Pronunciation
Brief History of Three Writing Scripts: Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana
Taking a cue from Chinese writing — Kanji
Creating writing scripts better suited to Japanese — hiragana and katakana
Pronouncing Japanese Sounds
Making Variations of Sounds
Two diacritical marks
Long vowels
Small ya, yu, yo
Small tsu
When to Use Kanji
Chapter 2 Exploring the Nature of Japanese Kanji
Getting to Know the Four Types of Kanji
Pictographs
Simple ideographs
Compound ideographs
Phonetic-ideographic characters
On’yomi versus Kun’yomi Readings
Okurigana
Kanji compounds
Sound shifts in kanji compounds
What Are Kanji Radicals?
Positions of Radicals
Writing Kanji
Stroke order
Types of strokes
Chapter 3 105 Characters
Appendix Blank Grids for Extra Practice
EULA